AOL Will Likely Be Spun Off As Separate Company

Kara Swisher grabbed the man of the hour, Tim Armstrong, after Time Warner announced that he would become AOL's new CEO. Tim will start his new job on April 7.

Tim made the obligatory noises about AOL still having lots of good assets (it does). Then he handicapped its likely future:

AOL owner Time Warner (TWX) has given [Armstrong] a lot of options for its future, from keeping it inside the larger media conglomerate (unlikely) to partnering with another company (less unlikely) to spinning it out (likely!).

"One of the things we discussed was making sure we were able to have the best outcome for AOL," said Armstrong. "That could take the form of a lot of different paths."

(Translation: As soon as the economy brightens, I am going to become a public company CEO, just like my soon-to-be-ex-boss Eric Schmidt!)